According to comments made by the airline’s chief operating officer on Monday, the newest airline in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Air, continues negotiating with aircraft manufacturers to order narrow-body planes.
The airline, which will start operations in 2025 and is under the control of the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, announced earlier this month that it would buy a “considerable” number of narrow-body aircraft in the coming weeks.
“We will at some stage order narrow-body aircraft, but we are still in negotiations,” COO Peter Bellew told Reuters on the sidelines of the week-long Dubai Airshow. The event took place in Dubai.
He stated that “nothing is ever over in life until it is over” and added, “We are trying to optimize the best deal for the airline, and we are working closely with the manufacturers on it.”
Among others, Emirates and other Gulf airlines have been known to make a flurry of aircraft order announcements during earlier iterations of the Dubai Airshow.
Saudi Arabia established Riyadh Air as part of the crown prince’s plan to diversify the nation’s economy, which is largely dependent on its enormous oil sector.
According to Bellew, the airline intended to operate around 170 aircraft by the year 2030 and had employed approximately 150 staff members up to this point, including 20 pilots.
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